Saturday, June 21, 2008

Dion, Harper, and the Carbon Tax

Prime Minister Stephen Harper pulled no punches on Friday in describing a carbon tax proposal by Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, saying it would "screw everybody" across Canada....Harper said the plan would be worse than the old national energy program introduced under the government of Pierre Trudeau in 1980, which still sparks fury among many Western Canadians to this day."It is like the national energy program in the sense that the national energy program was designed to screw the West and really damage the energy sector — and this will do those things," Harper said. "This is different in that this will actually screw everybody across the country."That is really what the Liberal Party is proposing and I hope that it won't fool Canadians."

My, what a surprise, Stevie doesn't like the Liberal Green plan. And how coincidental that he chooses to play to the energy industry while standing in an energy-rich province (and of course he has that big Alberta power base).But is there a bit of a politics-as-usual feel to this? Or is it just me? And what was Harper's green plan again?????

Mind you, there are a number of us, even from Alberta, who think there was some good ideas in the old NEP--things like making energy rich provinces share with the rest of the country. And this plan at least makes an attempt at putting the real cost of energy use/production on the table.